Player of the Game
The Indians were nearly kept off the board completely today, but Jason Kipnis came through with a solo home run in the eighth inning to make a rather tedious game slightly more interesting. It was his fifth home run of the season.
Feathers Up
For the third straight game, Trevor Bauer pitched more than five innings and allowed three less runs with 6.2 innings and three runs allowed today. This was Bauer’s second best start of the season after his seven three hit, shut out innings last time out and it gives confident that he can be a productive member of the rotation as the season continues. In all he struck out eight, walked two and allowed five hits.
Coming in to relieve Trevor Bauer, Joba Chamberlain had two outs already and a man on first. He went on to strike out the first batter he faced to end the inning, then the next three as well to pitch a perfect eighth. This lowered his season ERA to 0.71 with 13 K’s in 12.2 innings on the year.
Feathers Down
There are times when you look at a line-up before the game starts and think “it’s going to be a long day.” Today was one of those days and while often times, preconceived notions are completely incorrect, today they were spot on. Chris Gimenez and Michael Martinez were both in the starting line-up, hitting eighth and ninth and twice they killed potential rallies today. First in the third, the pair were quickly retired to start the inning, only to be followed by hits from Carlos Santana and Kipnis. Asking for three consecutive hits was too much, however, as Francisco Lindor struck out. In the following inning, it was Jose Ramirez and Tyler Naquin with singles to put two on, but Gimenez’s spot had come round again and he ended the inning with a whimper.
After Chamberlain and Kipnis had given the Indians a chance to come back in the game by shortening the deficit to two runs by the end of the eighth, Jeff Manship and Tyler Naquin gave it right back in the top of the ninth. Manship gave up singles to Byung Ho Park and Jorge Polanco and with one out, Eddie Rosario smashed one to center that hit off Naquin’s glove as he ran into the wall. Rosario ended at third on a play that was called a double, but two runs were already home, improving the Twins advantage to four.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 1 – Minnesota Twins 5
On Deck: The Tribe will stay home for the next series as their rivals from Ohio will come to town. This is one of the more fun series of the season as the Indians will play two in Cleveland and two in Cincinnati for the four game set. As a reminder, both Monday and Tuesday’s games will start at 6:10 PM. Reds lefty John Lamb is expected to take the mound against Cody Anderson.
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